- Lachie Kennedy performed well against elite sprinters
- Beat Olympic 200m champ and narrowly missed podium
Rising Australian sprint star Lachlan Kennedy has proven he’s the real deal by finishing a creditable fifth in the 100m on his Diamond League debut in the Chinese city of Xiamen.
Kennedy came into the opening Diamond League meet of 2025 in career-best form, having claimed silver in the 60m at last month’s world indoors in Nanjing.
He also moved to second on the Australian 100m all-time list with a run of 10.00 seconds at the national championships in Perth in early April.
The 21-year-old held his own against a world-class field on Saturday night in Xiamen, crossing the line in fifth spot in 10.18.
South African Akani Simbine was the runaway winner in 9.99 ahead of Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala (10.13), Britain’s Jeremiah Azu, US star Christian Coleman and Kennedy.
Only seven-hundredths of a second separated the next six runners across the line behind Simbine.
Sprinter Lachie Kennedy has made a sensational Diamond League debut
The Aussie star impressed many as he finished the 100m final in fifth – and very close to a podium finish
Kennedy bested Letsile Tebogo, who won gold at the Paris Games last year in the 200m. The superstar sprinter is better over the 200m, but Kennedy will still be elated by the feat.
Athletics fans were very impressed by Kennedy’s run.
‘Hardly anyone had heard of Lachie Kennedy five months ago and now he’s a contender at top level,’ posted one X user.
‘Kennedy oh so close to the podium. Great run after a busy start to 2025,’ posted another.
Much-improved Australian Liam Adcock was a close second behind local favourite Zhang Mingkun in the men’s long jump.
World indoors bronze medallist Adcock (8.15m) looked the likely winner for much of the night, only for Zhang to claim victory with a leap of 8.18m in the penultimate round.
Australians Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers (both 1.94m) finished second and third respectively behind Paris Olympics gold medallist and world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh in the women’s high jump.
The Ukrainian superstar claimed the win with a first-attempt clearance at 1.97m, before having three unsuccessful cracks at 2.03m.
The 21-year-old held his own against a world-class field on Saturday night
Mahuchikh, Olyslagers and Patterson won gold, silver and bronze respectively at last year’s Olympics.
Australian Abbey Caldwell broke the Oceania record in the non-championship women’s 1000m with a time of 2:32.94.
Caldwell was second behind legendary Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, with another Australian, Sarah Billings, in third spot in 2:33.45.
Kipyegon clocked 2:29.21 to come within striking distance of Svetlana Masterkova’s world record of 2:28.98 set in 1996.
Rose Davies broke her own Australian women’s 5000m record, clocking 14 minutes 40.83 seconds when finishing ninth in a race won by Paris Olympics 5000m and 10,000m gold medallist Beatrice Chebet from Kenya in 14:27.12.
Davies’ previous national mark of 14:41.65 was set last year in Tokyo.
Norwegian star Karsten Warholm improved on his unofficial world record in the 300m hurdles, clocking 33.05sec.
Warholm shaved 0.21 off his previous mark set in Oslo in 2021, the same year he set the 400m hurdles world record.
While not an Olympic event, 300m hurdles will soon become an official world-record discipline, World Athletics recently announced.
American Anavia Battle was a surprise winner of the women’s 200m in 22.41, ahead of gun Jamaican Shericka Jackson (22.79).
Jackson is the second fastest woman ever over 200m, but missed last year’s Olympics due to injury.
